PH Plans Shift To Mineral Processor To Support EV Industry

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said the Marcos administration is considering turning the country into a mineral-processing nation instead of an ore exporter to support the local electric vehicle (EV) industry.

Pascual added that this will cause a major shift in policy in handling the country’s natural resources given that mineral processing deposits of green metals such as nickel, copper, and cobalt are crucial in the Philippines.

“These minerals can be used for downstream industries such as EV battery manufacturing, hyper scale data centers, and renewable energy projects,” Pascual said.

“The Philippines can be a vital partner for these critical minerals not as an exporter of raw ores, which is what is happening now, but as a processor and producer of semi-finished and finished products,” Pascual added.

He also said the government was looking at Indonesia as a model.

The Department of Trade and Industry plans to make the country a key player in the green minerals sector and its significance to economic recovery by creating more job opportunities.

“The Philippines has over 9 million hectares of land with mineral potential, 92% of which have yet to be responsibly utilized. We also have over 450 million metric tons of nickel reserves,” Pascual said.

Source: Inquirer.net